Mississippi-born baritone Ezekiel Andrew won third place in the Mississippi Opera’s “Voices of Mississippi” singing competition last year. Photo courtesy Mississippi Opera

​Like its home state, the Mississippi Opera has a rich history. Founded in 1945, it is the ninth-oldest continuously operating opera company in the United States. Over the years, it has featured world-renowned singers such as Brooklyn, N.Y.-native soprano Beverly Sills and Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe.

The company has created several events in recent years to help present operatic music and musical theater to those who might not see or hear it otherwise. At one point, that included the opera's artistic director, Jay Dean.

"I grew up in a town of 3,000 people in Georgia, and no one had seen an opera or heard an opera, and it wasn't until I was almost in college when I saw my first (one)," Dean says.

"It was something that I thought was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. It struck a chord with me, and it just never let go."

The Mississippi Opera puts on several major operatic productions each season, including sold-out performances of the Gilbert and Sullivan comedy "The Mikado" at Duling Hall in November 2016, and an upcoming performance of Giuseppe Verdi's tragic masterpiece, "Rigoletto," on Saturday, April 22, at Thalia Mara Hall.

These shows are just one face of what the Mississippi Opera does, though, Dean says. The company also has two popular recent additions to its schedule, including the monthly "Cabaret at Duling Hall" series and the annual "Voices of Mississippi" competition.

Dean, who became the opera's artistic director in 2010, first launched the "Cabaret" events at the now-closed Underground 119 in downtown Jackson under the name "Opera Underground" in 2011.

"I wanted ... to present operatic music and musical theater in a setting where people could relax, have a drink, socialize, enjoy great music, and it didn't seem so stiff or distant, like sitting in an audience where you're looking at something 25 or 30 yards away on a stage," he says.

The Mississippi Opera performed “The Mikado” at Duling Hall in November 2016. Photo courtesy Mississippi Opera

The series proved successful and soon outgrew its venue, moving to Duling Hall a few years ago. The concerts, including February's "The British Invasion of Jackson," often sell out, though Dean says he'll always try to find a seat for those left out in the cold if he can.

Another recent ongoing event for the Mississippi Opera is "Voices of Mississippi," a vocal contest that takes place each fall and launched about three years ago as a way to celebrate opera and musical-theater singers with ties to our state. In order to participate, the singer must have been born in Mississippi, live here, lived here in the past or went to school here.

"We call our state 'the birthplace of America's music' because of blues, gospel, rock-and-roll and country music," Dean says.

"Those are the four genres that get mentioned, but there's also operatic music that goes on here, a lot of classical music and all kinds of music. We have such great talent here."